Short Bursts

This has been a week of some interesting sporting events and outcomes but nothing trendy or truly earth shattering. Nothing so bad or so remarkable that I can expound on. This will be a burst of comments which I think reflect what has happened and how I feel about them.

First a melancholy thought. Nick Buoniconti, the Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker for the Miami Dolphins when they won 2 Super Bowls and the Boston Patriots earlier in his career, has died. A member of the American Football League All-Time team, enshrined in the New England Patriots Hall of Fame and a member of the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll, this second team All-American out of Notre Dame and a 13th round pick in the AFL Draft exceeded expectations in so many ways. Considered to be “too small” to play successfully in pro football, he showed his doubters how wrong they were. Quietly, he earned his law degree while he was with the Patriots and represented 30 professional athletes as an agent. He was in a “Miller Lite” commercial which mocked who he was. Buoniconti also was the host of “Inside the NFL” on HBO.

Most importantly, he made the biggest impact as a person and as a father when his son Marc suffered a spinal cord injury while making a tackle for The Citadel football team. Nick Buoniconti became the public face for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which has done wonderful things for those so severely injured. 

A remarkable man with a heart of gold. He has donated his brain for study in CTE research. His death at age 78 in Bridgehampton, New York was too soon. 

After looking like a team on the ropes, the Yankees have come alive in their last five games, going 4-1. Domingo German is 14-2. He is a good pitcher. I believe he will be the starter for New York when the playoffs occur.

D.J. LeMahieu is back in the New York lineup. He picked up where he left off with multiple hits and now has a career high 17 home runs. D.J. is easily the Yankees M.V.P.

Aaron Judge is going through a horrific slump. He is still guess hitting and his hands are too low, trying to make up for pitches down in the strike zone. I don’t think his confidence is shattered, but he is shaking his head more and more when he walks back to the dugout after another strikeout. The Yankees need Judge to awaken from his slumber and start hitting the ball like he is capable of and laying off the pitches below his knees, over his shoulders and outside of the strike zone. 

I have watched Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox in his last two starts against the Yankees. His velocity is down and sometimes his breaking ball is flat. Something is definitely wrong for this formerly dominant pitcher to be 5-11 at this juncture, which is a great part of Boston’s malaise this year. 

When I watch J.D. Martinez tattoo the ball, I think: professional hitter. He knows the strike zone and he attacks the baseball with exceptional confidence. It is amazing that the Detroit Tigers, struggling so much right now, and the Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t do more to keep this talented player.

Right after I saw Gleyber Torres hit his grand slam homer on Friday night, it struck me how young this kid is and how the Cubs must be kicking themselves for renting Aroldis Chapman for one year and a long hoped-for World Series win. The Cubs got what they wanted but are not in a place where they can reach the World Series this season, let alone necessarily win the NL Central or make the Wild Card game. Instead, New York has a super star with potential Hall of Fame credentials. And he isn’t 23 yet.

Edwin Encanacion joined the ranks of the Yankees who are injured when he suffered  a broken right wrist on Saturday. Didi Gregorius and C.C. Sabathia are also down. Yet this team keeps on winning. How can they do it? Is Aaron Boone the Manager of the Year?

Bob Costas, Michael Kay’s fill in broadcaster on YES said that the home runs hit this year are reportedly 800 more than last year at this time. Hard to fathom if true. Still, no individual home run records are seriously in jeopardy. Amazing. Costas also reported than singles are down the past couple of years; I would guess especially this year…

The Yankees are 9-0 when they go with an opener to pitch the first one to two innings. Could this happen in the playoffs?

With the trading deadline history, all of the experts agree that the Houston Astros positioned themselves for a long run into the World Series with the acquisition of Zack Greinke form Arizona, along with pitchers Aaron Sanchez, a starter, and Joe Biagini, a reliever. Houston also reacquired catcher Martin Maldonado, sending outfielder Tony Kemp to Toronto, and moved catcher Max Stassi to the Angels. 

The playoff rotation of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole (battling each other for the AL Cy Young Award) and now Greinke, himself a former Cy Young Award winner, seems to be unbeatable. These situations repeatedly do not always break in favor of the team with the great starting staff. Houston may have the arms to dominate, but in the end, who will triumph in October will be the team which has more stamina at the end of a long season and then the playoffs. 

What the New York Mets did by obtaining young Marcus Stroman has made the team better and sent a clear message to the players that this season isn’t over yet. In retaining closer Edwin Diaz, the bullpen can still pick up the starters and win games. I really like the rotation of Jacob deGrom, last years’s NL Cy Young Award winner, Noah Sydergaard, Zack Wheeler and the enigmatic Steven Matz. Should the forgotten Yoenis Cespedes return to form next season after his surgeries or the Mets make some trades, they will be a solid team able to compete even in a division with the likes of the Atlanta Braves, the underachieving Philadelphia Phillies and overachieving Washington Nationals.

A Friday night loss in Pittsburgh ended a 7 game winning streak. Although below.500 at 53-56, New York remains only 5 games out of the second Wild Card spot. Does anyone recall the Miracle Mets or “Ya gotta believe?”

I was slightly shocked that the Cincinnati Reds sent second baseman Scooter Gennette to San Francisco for a player to be named later. The 7 year veteran has a lifetime batting average of .287. He was way below that stat this season, suffering from a groin injury. Maybe the fact that Scooter is a free agent in 2020 factored into the Reds decision and that he was being paid nearly $10 million in 2019 and he would have demanded more money. I doubt that Derek Dietrich was envisioned as the savior at second for Cincinnati. 

This is a Reds team which forwarded brawling Yasiel Puig to the Cleveland Indians and received Trevor Bauer, the frustrated long-tossing hurler with much promise and an incendiary mind. The Reds also sent starter Tanner Roark to Oakland. In such a tight division as the NL Central is, with the Reds only 7 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals with a 51-57 record, was management looking to contend next season?

Meanwhile, no mutiny occurred in San Francisco as Madison Bumgarner was not traded. Will Smith also stayed. The Giants sent relievers Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black to struggling Milwaukee, receiving infielder Mauricio Dubon, the Brewers’ no. 3 prospect. Mark Melancon, owed a ton of money, was traded to Atlanta, who took his entire $18 million salary. San Francisco received prospect Tristan Beck, a former Stanford University pitcher, along with Dan Winkler, who could bolster the Giants bullpen down the stretch. Management has made some bold moves for the present and the future, as the Giants remain only 3.5 games from a Wild Card berth and are a better team entering 2020.

In NBA news, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry have both stated that the experts who are counting out the Warriors as a playoff team let along a championship team, are flat out wrong. I defer to the Splash Brothers on this. Just like the Mets beat everyone to Marcus Stroman, perhaps the Dubs obtaining D’Angelo Russell as collateral for the loss of Kevin Durant to Brooklyn is much more than a stop gap measure until Thompson returns from off season ACL surgery. The signing of Draymond Green to a 4 year, $100 million extension guarantees that he won’t be moody about free agency and can provide this energy on the court when the team moves into the state-of-the-art Chase Center in San Francisco this fall. I still will watch Golden State as much as I can—that’s the Curry factor.

Durant was spotted walking without crutches in Los Angeles the other night. Slowly, but without any assistance. Don’t get your hopes up, Nets fans. Wait until 2021-22. 

The NBA has released its Christmas Day schedule. Headlining the day’s games will be the Clippers and Lakers. Of course. Kawhi versus LeBron. Houston, with James Harden and Russell Westbrook, play at Golden State. Boston and Toronto, two of the better teams in the East despite the changes in personnel, meet in Canada. Milwaukee and Philadelphia get together in the City of Brotherly Love (don’t expect any on Broad Street in South Philly on this Christmas), and the New Orleans Pelicans, with the number 1 pick, Zion Williamson, journey to Denver to meet the Nuggets, who had the second best record in the West last season. Good job, Adam Silver. 

Bad job, NBA, by not flying the WNBA All Stars in first class to the recent All Star Game in Las Vegas. Another instance of gender inequality? And the move by soccer officials to show that the USNWT actually made more money than their male counterparts this year was designed to keep the women’s salaries still below that of the men. 

Nobody in the NBA  who is a star really wants to play on the men’s team in the FIBA World Cup. Why would they?

The Cleveland Browns have a gem in quarterback Baker Mayfield. If he and Odell Beckham, Jr. are on the same page, look for regular highlight package materials from their hook ups. Reportedly, Mayfield has taken to calling out veterans when they make mistakes. This speaks of leadership and maturity. Am I surprised? Not in the least bit.

The Jets had to talk a veteran Pro Bowl center out of retirement to come play one more year with New York. Ryan Kalil may have been good. He is 34 and received more money from New York, with incentives, then he got his last year in Carolina. I don’t know if this is a good or bad move. What is ironic is that this comes just as former Jets center Kevin Mawae entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Michael Thomas of New Orleans was made the highest-paid receiver in the league this week. Dallas is nowhere near reaching an extension with Eziekiel Elliott (do I hear Le’Veon Bell chortling over in Florham Park? Bell did apologize to fantasy football people for his absence last season but vows to make it to to them this year…)

Chris “Cyborg” Justino is no longer going to be associated with the UFC after Dana White released her. Rhonda Rousey is long gone, affiliated with the WWE and making big bucks. You kinda knew this would happen after a Colombian wins the Tour de France, a first for a South American and the Oakland A’s sign a 23 year old who threw routinely in the mid 90’s on a pitching machine in Colorado—and they had ben tracking the kid!!

I wonder if the heat is affecting me with all this to process? I need to cool off until next week…